“I sit with people who are dying. I'm one of those unusual types that enjoys being with someone when they're dying because I know I am going to be in the presence of Truth.” – Baba Ram Das
THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD, a popular and integral text in the Buddhist faith, is a step-by-step manual of about 500 loose-leaf parchment pages that is read to a corpse for 49 days. Sometimes the person is just dying and not dead yet, but usually they’re dead. The 49 days are the interval it takes for the soul to move from residing in one body to being reincarnated in another body or being fully liberated. Its surtitle is the Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State.
The book is read aloud because the consciousness of the deceased person is capable of hearing. The Buddhist monk or lama reading The Tibetan Book of the Dead tells the soul not to cling to the past and to be patient about the rebirth process. The point is to provide guidance and comfort as the soul passes from one life to another.
The Bardo Thodol, as it is called in Tibet, was ostensibly written in the 8th century by a guru named Padmasambhava after being asked by the emperor Trisong Detsen to rid the land of its darkness. The text was buried in the hills of central Tibet and discovered in the 14th century. Bardo Thodol was translated into English by American anthropologist Walter Evans-Wentz in 1927 who titled it The Tibetan Book of the Dead because of similarities he saw between it and the Egyptian Book of the Dead – for example, the existence of stages through which the deceased must travel before rebirth. (Evans-Wentz ran in interesting circles – he studied at Stanford University with William James and William Butler Yeats, and the third revised edition of his translation contains a psychological commentary by Carl Jung.)
Bardo means “intermediate state.” The Bardo Thodol covers three distinct bardos:
Chikhai bardo (the moment of death itself) involves a clear, pure light. According to a 1994 documentary narrated by Leonard Cohen with special guest appearances by Ram Dass and the Dalai Lama, this “illuminosity” helps the dying “go forward.” The consciousness of the corpse becomes aware of and accepts the fact that it has recently died, and it reflects upon its past life.
Chonyid bardo (the experience of reality) consists of visions of various Buddhas. This stage can also include frightening, hellish apparitions. Death, it seems, is not all peaches and cream. Without the knowledge that these visions are unreal, the consciousness can become confused and, depending upon its karma, may be drawn into a rebirth that impedes its eventual liberation.
Sidpa bardo (rebirth) is the transition into a new body. It often features imagery of men and women passionately entwined.
I’m struck by two similarities between these three bardos and near-death experiences: (1) the hearing of voices in the room after the person has died and (2) seeing a pure, bright, clear light. And I’d like to know more about that “entwined” business.
Karma is a central tenet of Buddhism. Karma is an action, and actions have consequences. Karma can be good or bad. Craving for worldly goods, for example, spurs anxiety and suffering, which can influence our actions on this planet and propel us through the process of death and rebirth. Those who are liberated, who have attained enlightenment or nirvana, are released from this persistent transformation. Good intent and good deeds contribute to good karma and happier rebirths.
Tibetan Buddhists believe that we are largely responsible for our own karma. The Tibetan Book of the Dead is intended to help us go forward and pursue new, improved karma by not being afraid of dying.
Next week: Woody Allen on the relationship between love and death
I’m enjoying the ride! Thank you for sharing all of this.
Very interesting for us old folks